Mom ‘Overwhelmed’ at Replies to Simple Social Media Request for Her 5-Year-Old Son with Autism (Exclusive)

Fans and NHL teams like the Sharks and Blackhawks stepped in after one mom asked for hockey arena photos for her son with autism to draw

For Katie Mallinson’s 5-year-old son, it’s never been about the game.

It’s the arenas — the lights, the roofs, the structure — that captivate him. So when his mom made a simple request online, she hoped a few people might respond.

She didn’t expect the entire hockey world to show up.

“My son is Autistic, and he is obsessed with hockey arenas, not hockey, hockey arenas,” Mallinson wrote on X. “If anyone has pics of hockey rinks please share, and supply the name. It would make my 5 year old so happy!”

Mallinson, 51, an operations coordinator from Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada says the post was meant for a small circle — a quick way to gather a few new images for her 5-year-old son, Cole, to look at and draw.

“I just thought I’d put a tweet out asking my followers for pictures,” she tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I thought a few would respond, as I have some great people on my followers list.”

At first, that’s exactly what happened. “I saw two followers retweet,” she says.

But within hours, the response began to snowball.

“12 hours later, the pictures started coming, the retweets started. I was like omg, this [is] awesome,” she says. “Then [it] kept growing, and went viral.”

As more people joined in, the post took on a life of its own — with users tagging hockey teams from across North America in hopes of getting their attention.

That’s when the moment shifted from surprising to overwhelming.

“That’s when some of the teams started tweeting him pictures, I was very overwhelmed and touched,” she says.

Soon, responses were coming in from NHL teams, including the San Jose Sharks, Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets and Vancouver Canucks — all sharing photos of their arenas for a young boy they had never met.

“Could we interest him in the Shark Tank?” the Sharks commented.

“An ALMOST live look in at the greatest barn in hockey!… it’s 3-0 now,” the Blue Jackets chimed in.

“Hello from Rogers Arena in Vancouver 👋” the Canucks wrote.

At the center of it all is Cole, whose fascination with arenas began about two years ago after attending his cousin’s hockey game. Since then, that interest has become part of his daily routine.

“He wants to visit one every weekend, then comes and draws them for hours at home,” the mom says.

So when the photos started pouring in from around the world, it opened up an entirely new way for him to explore that passion.

“Cole has loved scrolling through the pictures, soaking in the details,” Mallinson says. “We still have many to go through, as he can get overwhelmed.”

Along with photos, strangers began offering other gestures that Mallinson says she never imagined would come from a single post.

“I can’t pick one! They are all amazing!” she says when asked about her favorite response. “I have had strangers offer him tickets and tours, books, apps, and a model of an arena. I never thought this would ever happen.”

“We can’t take the tour offers up, as they are in the USA,” she says, while noting her local team reached out and she plans to take them up on their offer.

But beyond the gifts and gestures, it’s the collective kindness behind them that has stayed with her the most.

“In a world where social media is showing how dark our world is, the hockey fans from all over the world banded together and sent pictures to a child they didn’t even know,” she says. “Politics and war and everything else was put aside… and just pure joy by fans showed through.”

“I have faith in humanity again,” she adds.

As the post continued to spread — even being picked up in Facebook groups and on TSN — Mallinson says she’s also begun hearing from people far beyond the hockey community.

“I had so many people with autism reach out and tell me their stories and obsessions,” she says. “So many told me the post helped them feel seen.”

In that way, what started as a simple request for photos became something much bigger.

“So it wasn’t just for my son,” she says. “It is everyone who is touched by autism, and their families and friends.”